hii really don'r know what a carbon filter is :( sorry maybe someone else does.usually inside a filter you get some sponge/ceramic rings/filter floss.to change all the insides of a filter is bad.when you replace the cartridges you begina new tank each time from the begining,stressing the fish,in an unstable situation.would it be possible for you to buy a new filter with the aformentioned ceramic ringsand stuff. ?all the stuff you are adding is not going to help very much either.i need other members to help you with the filter situation.

I think we're all talking about the same thing. I think by "carbon filter" they mean the filter media is carbon. MollyPlatySwordtailfish: "filter media" is just a term that refers to what stuff you have in your filter... e.g. a bag of carbon, a sponge, ceramic rings, etc. What the water runs through as it is pumped through your filter.

If you only have a bag of carbon in your filter, you might consider adding at least a sponge/floss too, to remove some particulate matter before going through your carbon. Ceramic rings provide a large surface area for bacteria to grow on, if you want to add that as well (I personally do not, but I have loads of rocks in my tanks and those provide more than enough surface area for bacteria... plus not having a bag of rings in my filter is one less thing to rinse and change every so often). Do you think you could look and see what exact filter you have (make/model)? If you use all three, the typical order is sponge first, then carbon, then ceramic rings. The sponge provides mechanical filtration, to remove chunks of stuff from the water, the carbon provides chemical filtration, by trapping unwanted chemicals in the tiny pores of the carbon nuggets, and the ceramic rings provide biological filtration be allowing bacteria to grow on the large surface area and consume ammonia and nitrites. And like willow said, never change them all at the same time, as that could disrupt the bacteria population of the tank and re-start a cycle.

I also agree with willow, that adding lots of medications to the tank isn't a great idea. I personally don't like to do that (just a personal preference, not saying they don't work), as I prefer to keep the water/tank environment as natural as possible. I feel like at some point the water will be so full of chemicals and other stuff, that it will turn into a bad thing .

speaking of carbon and chemical filtration, if you are putting all of these medications in your tank, but leaving the carbon in your filter, then the carbon is probably removing the medication before it can really work (and the carbon is getting "full" more quickly as well, reducing the effectiveness or lifespan of the carbon). I bet if you check out some of the fine print on the bottle/box of the medication, it will tell you to remove the carbon from your filter while medicating!

Thanks for the help. I did take the carbon filters out(I am not totally uneducated) Now the sponge. There is this blue meshy stuff on the filter and there are little nuggets(im guess that is the carbon) inside the meshy stuff. Is that meshy stuff the sponge that you guys are talking about? Also what are ceramic rings? I have these spinning cylinder things that get really gross after a while. I'm not sure what those are. I'm not sure of the filter make/model but I can find out. As for the current fish situation, 2 losses already today and a few more on their way out. The fish are dying fast. I'm getting the water test kit today to see what is wrong.

ok cool, yeah I would imagine the blue meshy stuff you mentioned probably is the sponge, though it's a bit weird that the carbon is packed inside the sponge (not un-heard of though). In most filter's I've seen (which isn't that many, mind you ), they are separate entities. The sponge is usually just a block of meshy/spongy material, and the carbon just resides inside of a thin mesh bag (the carbon itself is a black, course gravel). The bag of carbon is then placed on top of the sponge block, assuming the water flows from the bottom of the filter up through the top.

Ceramic rings are just that, little white or almost-white cylindrical rings almost like small donuts. They're placed in a bag similar to the carbon (probably 50-100 or more rings, depending on the size of your filter). I'm not sure what you are seeing when you say "spinning cylinder things", the ceramic rings are cylinder things but they don't spin! They just sit in a bag and let water flow through them. It's very possible that you don't have the ceramic rings in your filter, they certainlty aren't standard stuff in every filter, and some people (myself included) don't use them. But knowing the filter make/model would help, I could look it up online and see exactly what kind of media it takes and such.

I'm really sorry to hear that your fish are still having a rough go of it! Once you get the test kit, hopefully we'll be able to get to the bottom of it quickly. I hope our discussions on here are helping!

ok cool, yeah I would imagine the blue meshy stuff you mentioned probably is the sponge, though it's a bit weird that the carbon is packed inside the sponge (not un-heard of though). In most filter's I've seen (which isn't that many, mind you ), they are separate entities. The sponge is usually just a block of meshy/spongy material, and the carbon just resides inside of a thin mesh bag (the carbon itself is a black, course gravel). The bag of carbon is then placed on top of the sponge block, assuming the water flows from the bottom of the filter up through the top.

Ceramic rings are just that, little white or almost-white cylindrical rings almost like small donuts. They're placed in a bag similar to the carbon (probably 50-100 or more rings, depending on the size of your filter). I'm not sure what you are seeing when you say "spinning cylinder things", the ceramic rings are cylinder things but they don't spin! They just sit in a bag and let water flow through them. It's very possible that you don't have the ceramic rings in your filter, they certainlty aren't standard stuff in every filter, and some people (myself included) don't use them. But knowing the filter make/model would help, I could look it up online and see exactly what kind of media it takes and such.

I'm really sorry to hear that your fish are still having a rough go of it! Once you get the test kit, hopefully we'll be able to get to the bottom of it quickly. I hope our discussions on here are helping!

You can see how cloudy it is from this angle. Can't even see to the other end. Wouldn't It be a shame to lose all those nice fish?

My one of my 4 fliter things I use:

Spinning Cyndrical things(Maybe somebody knows what they are

Dont Judge Me! Very dirty filter setup. One on each end. Its not as bad as it seems. The flash from the camera makes the stuff more vibrant. I know what your thinking, that all of that crap is making the fish sick and dying. But its been there for a long time

awesome, good pics there that helps :) The spinning cylinders are called bio-wheels. Those will basically take the place of the ceramic rings we talked about earlier. Those wheels basically allow water to run over them as the water returns to the tank, and provides surface area for the bacteria to grow on. I've never used biowheel filters myself, but I am pretty sure from hearing other's discuss them that you shouldn't ever change the bio wheels themselves (someone else who knows better please correct me if I'm wrong!). If they SHOULD be replaced every so often, I'm sure it's not often, and when you do, only change one at a time (not all of the cylinders at once).

It looks like the blue mesh bags you show are indeed a combination of mechanical filtration (sponge) and carbon, if the carbon is inside of it, and its probably fine. Different filters use sponges/carbons of different shapes, yours just happens to use that one. I don't know if that type is any better or worse than the block sponge/carbon bag style I described earlier, its probably equivalent. Try to replace them every month or so, to keep the carbon fresh and working. Simply swirling it around in the water you just removed during water changes should be good for rinsing it out in between replacements (one mans' opinion, others speak up if you think they should be rinsed more often or differently).

So it looks like you've got a good filter setup, and as long as you've been keeping up with the maintenance of it then that's probably not the problem. Once we know the results of your water tests, we'll be on a roll!